by Thomas Breen
“I am astonished and appalled that this kind of ICE brutality and inhumanity is continuing.”
So said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Friday morning when asked about how a federal immigration officer shot a 28-year-old man in the neck, while that man’s 5-year-old son was in the backseat of his car, in the Marble Hill section of New York City on Thursday afternoon.
The non-fatal shooting marked just the latest example of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers injuring people, sometimes fatally, during enforcement actions across the country.
Blumenthal has spoken out about about ICE’s alleged lawlessness in recent months, including during Congressional hearings and at a New Haven City Hall press conference.
What is his response to Thursday’s shooting of Oscar Belgal, a 28-year-old immigrant from the Dominican Republic?
“Appalled and angry beyond words at what appears to be a senseless, lawless, brutal shooting through a car window of a man accompanied by his 5-year-old son,” Blumenthal said after an unrelated press conference held on the New Haven Green on Friday morning. “Whatever the circumstances of that man’s immigration status, shooting under those circumstances seems to be a violation of law and good police practice.”
According to the New York Times, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said that the shooting occurred as agents tried to arrest an undocumented immigrant with a criminal record, and that Belgal had been convicted of grand larceny. An ICE official has also said that Belgal accelerated his car towards the agents, and that they responded by opening fire.
Update: On Friday at 1:48 p.m., a DHS spokesperson added that ICE officers “immediately rendered aid” after the shooting. “The individual is alive and at a local hospital. The FBI and HSI are on the scene. The incident remains under investigation. More information will be shared as it becomes available.”
Blumenthal said this shooting underscores the need for comprehensive immigration reform. He described the Trump administration’s current approach to immigration enforcement as “cruel” and “senseless.”
He also stressed that he has introduced legislation that would require ICE to have warrants for arrests “unless a person is dangerous,” and that would require them to wear badges and other forms of identification.
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